Author | Wei Jie
After " Blossoms ", the 2024 drama market will usher in the first batch of highly anticipated dramas. Unfortunately, judging from business data alone, the expectations of the drama market have been somewhat disappointed.
is especially the sequel to several popular IPs that have been given high hopes.
"Dajiang Dahe 3" produced by CCTV, Noon Sunshine, and iQiyi, the star CCTV premiere ratings reached 1.5%. According to Maoyan, the popularity of Goose and Peach was second only to "Flowers", but the number of advertisements suddenly increased one week after it was broadcast. reduce. As of now, there is only one mid-roll ad on iQiyi, and there are no ads on Tencent Video.
"Qi Jinchao" and "Sword and Sword IV" also had advertisements that "eat carrots" around a week after they were aired.
The star effect and theater effect can still bring long-term impact.
According to statistics, the last " Black Earth Silent " produced by Tencent As of today, nearly 20 brands have placed advertisements for "Long Time Love" starring Yang Zi and Fan Chengcheng.
This January, although "customers are disappearing" is a problem that practitioners have to face, how can once again reach the "flower fever" of is also a question that practitioners have to think about.
Disappearing ads, burned-out IPs?
At the end of 2018, "大江大河" was launched on the five major platforms of Dragon TV, Beijing TV, iQiyi, Tencent Video, and Youku, and scored a high score of 8.8 on Douban. Two years later, the second part of the series was aired, and the market still responded with high ratings and high reputation. The "Dajiang Dahe" IP has become one of the hottest period drama IPs this year.
The play is adapted from the novel "The Great River Goes East" written by Anai. It tells the story of the ups and downs of pioneers represented by Song Yunhui, Lei Dongbao and Yang Xun as they continue to explore and break through in the wave of change under the background of reform and opening up. .
To be fair, the data of "Dajiang Dahe 3" is not bad. As of January 24, Dajiang Dahe's CVB was 3.112%, breaking the ratings record, with an average rating of 2.915 for 22 episodes. Yunhe has also been in the top three of the daily charts for a long time.
But the business disappeared mysteriously. According to statistics, the average number of advertisements per episode of "Dajiang Dahe 3" has been reduced from 6 to 1 on iQiyi, from 21 to 25 episodes, and even "empty windows" . On Tencent Video, there are already more than a dozen episodes of Wu Guang (refer to Douban for the data in the picture).
The reverse growth of in ratings and in business is actually not too difficult to understand.
On the one hand, the period drama attribute of "Dajiang Dahe" means that the age group of the audience tends to be middle-aged and elderly . At a time when brands emphasize youth, tonality, and consumption power, circle-quality dramas do not have too much appeal. force.
On the other hand, under the high popularity brought by "Flowers", 's more accurate placement of will definitely become the future trend of the brand. At the same time, in the era of explicit data, real-time follow-up investment and feedback seem to have become a habitual behavior for brands. Perhaps it is better to catch up from behind than to bet in advance.
"Qi Jinchao" and "Sword and Fairy IV", both IP sequels, also face advertising difficulties.
is adapted from the game "Qi Jinchao" from the game "Legend of Sword and Fairy VI". Since its launch, there have been three commercials, including the interludes of Xinhuo and Sanjiu, and the ending of Haipu Nokai. In , starting from episode 16, the number of advertisements is reduced to zero.
"Legend of Sword and Fairy 4" is adapted from the game "Legend of Sword and Fairy 4". Since its launch, there have been two advertisements, namely the opening of "Love His Beauty" and the insert of "Sanjiu". From the 11th episode onwards, there will be no advertisements.
are all business failures. The reason for "Four of Swords and Swordsmen" and "Prayer for Today" is simpler - the broadcast data of is not as good as expected for .
Yunhe data shows that more than half of the two dramas have been broadcast, and the proportion of feature films in broadcasts is around 7%. The former caused a controversy before the broadcast, and related topics became the top trending topics, exceeding the official announcement of the broadcast. The title of the latter drama has no flavor of Fairy Sword, and the adaptation is mediocre. Xiaoyu has seen "Qi Jinchao" playing as the background sound in various offline stores several times, but no one knew that it was the Fairy Sword IP.
"Sword and Fairy" IP is more widely spread and popular among the audience in the drama series "Legend of Sword and Fairy One" and "Legend of Fairy Sword and Fairy III", starring Hu Ge, Liu Yifei, Yang Mi, Liu Shishi, etc., "Fairy Sword and Fairy" "The rapid decline in value is a reality, and the reflection is even more obvious on the brand. On the day of the broadcast, there were only two commercials for the two dramas.
Today's brands must be more cautious in their evaluation of IP and audience circles, as well as all aspects of drama series.
Short plays are on the rise, and the theater effect is evident.
The unexpected performance in January was "Black Soil Silence", the final work of Tencent x theater.
The drama is directed by Zang Xichuan and stars Chen Jianbin, Hu Jun, and Deng Jiajia. It tells the story of a vicious crime case that occurred in Lanhe, a small northeastern town, and Guan Yu, the captain of the Lanhe Criminal Police Team, who investigates the truth of the case. Compared with the first three films of x theater,
's performance is not outstanding. As a "final" work, its Douban score is only 6.6, and the popularity on the site has not reached the 30,000 mark of " long season ", but in terms of investment, it can be counted among the top three dramas in January. .
In the data post on Douban, the first hot comment was - "Wow, unexpectedly good".
As just analyzed, is inseparable from the initial theater effect .
The x theater launched by Tencent Video this year has launched a total of four series. What is amazing is that "The Long Season", "Under the Busty City", "Happy Face" and "Black Soil Silence" have all achieved the widest range of achievements in the entire series. "The Long Season", first launched by
, is one of the only four dramas on Tencent Video to have over 30,000 views in 2023. In just 12 episodes, 9 brands have entered the game, and the average number of advertisements per episode is as high as 4.5. This pioneering work of has also successfully established a reputation for x theater.
Subsequently, "Happy Face" starring Dong Zijian, Zhang Yi, and Tong Liya once again stabilized the label with a Douban score of 7.9, while "Under the City", which has no traffic and is a highlight of ancient costume suspense, won Douban as a solid player. With a high reputation of 8.8 points, Tongcheng was contracted to cover the "highlight moments" of the entire episode before the show aired.
The three films have been steadily produced. X Theater’s high reputation and suspense quality label have directly become the buffs of "Black Soil Silence". It is no wonder that some people feel that "quality determines the effect" is unbalanced here.
As for how long this theater effect will last and how long it can last, it is up to the production side to judge and practice it.
Stars lead dramas, but 95 yuan is not enough.
Star effect is still an element that cannot be ignored in business.
"Love for a Long Time" starring Yang Zi and Fan Chengcheng had a stellar performance in January. As of today, nearly 20 brands have placed advertisements, with a peak of 7 advertisements in one episode.
This is due to Yang Zi’s appeal.
According to statistics, in the summer of 2023, the average number of advertisements in "Sauvignon Blanc" starring Yang Zi reached 3.97, and a total of 23 brands participated in the advertising. From the beginning to the completion of the broadcast, there was never any zero advertising. When it comes to attracting investment for modern dramas, Yang Zi has even more obvious advantages. The niche theme "Female Psychologist" broadcast in 2021 has still won the first place in Youku investment.
5hua’s ability to attract investment has not been confirmed.
At that time, Yu Shuxin became the first echelon of 95 Flowers with "Happiness at the Next Stop" and "Canglan Jue". Together with Zhao Lusi, Bai Lu, Yang Zi, and Dilraba, she became the "candidate for dramas" in the eyes of producers. "Responsible for popular products", 95hua has gradually entered the public eye.
But looking back at the data, although "Yunzhiyu" has Guo Jingming's popularity bonus and its sub-CP is highly discussed on social platforms, the final advertising data is still far behind "Sauvignon Blanc". Even the popular summer drama "Canglan Jue" in 2022 failed to achieve the results of Jiji Youwang. At that time, producer Wang Yixu also specifically responded to the investment issue on social platforms.
Yang Chaoyue, who is also a 95-year-old, starred in "Double Purple" and the average number of advertisements per episode was only 0.62. "Seven Occasions", which was bet to be a hit drama, also went from being full of movies to "eating carrots". Even Zhao Lusi, who is known as the "King of 95 Flowers", has not been able to achieve a wide range of results in his entire collection.The only two full-scale TV dramas in 23 years are "Tian Geng Ji" produced by Xinli and starring Tian Xiwei and Zeng Shunxi, and "I Miss You Very Much" starring Zhou Ye and Tan Jianci.
For most brands, perhaps their ability to grow in Xiaohongshu and Douyin is superior to their works. On Yu Shuxin’s Xiaohongshu account, the latest video posted has the hashtag #DYSONhairdryer#, and this hair style sharing has received nearly 60,000 likes so far.
It is undeniable that there are still overwhelming traffic-based artists on the market. Typical examples of are Wang Hedi. Even when "Based on Love" was criticized several times and the Douban score dropped to 4.3, his investment data was still outstanding, with a total number of advertisements as high as 208.
However, with the changes in the general environment, brands have become more cautious about launching . Not only 95 Flowers, except for top artists with high hits, the star effect has been affected to a certain extent.
Ju Jingyi, who is famous for "Three Thousand Years of Beauty" and "Ju-style aesthetics", and Chen Zheyuan, who received attention for "Secretly Can't Hide", did not support the investment of "Sword and Sword IV". "Our Translator" starring Song Qian and Chen Xingxu has only been launched by one brand so far. At the end of last year, "I'm Going Against the Wind" starring Gong Jun and Zhong Chuxi had only 0.52 ads per episode. "Derailment" starring Liu Haocun and Lin Yi only has six episodes with advertisements.
Behind this is the increasingly cautious attitude of brands, which is forcing the inevitable trend of drama production . It is also a withdrawal period that the market must go through for a positive market.
